solution to devastation of heart is worship. It's worship. It's worship. Now, here's the temptation. I've already said to you that biblical faith never requires that you deny reality, but you must not make the harsh realities of life your meditation. If you make them your meditation, they'll hurt you. You will begin to take experiences on as your identity. Experiences are not your identity, they're your experiences. Divorce is a devastating human experience, but it's not your identity. Loss of a loved one is a sad experience. It reminds me that I'm still in a devastated world, but it's not my identity. So you face reality, but you don't meditate on that reality. That's the big temptation. Some of you are good at doing that. You toss it over in your head over and over again. You pick apart the fine-grained details. You put yourself to sleep worrying about it. You wake up in the morning considering it again. You hold it as a friend. You pack it with you. You take it everywhere you go. You think about it in the car. You're constantly, "What are you doing? What are you doing? What are you doing?" You see, here's the truth, you don't just suffer the thing that you're suffering. Stay with me. You suffer the way that you're suffering the thing that you're suffering. I'm serious. Because if your suffering kidnaps your meditation, that suffering will be worse. You'll trouble your own trouble because your heart isn't being caressed, isn't remembering the stunning beauty of the Lord that is the only way of properly understanding who you are and what life is about. Turn to Romans 4, please. You know the story. Sarah and Abraham have been promised a son. They've been promised that their descendants would be like the sand of the sea. No son. Decade after decade after decade after decade. Verse 18, "In hope, Abraham believed against hope that he should become the father of many nations as had been told, 'So shall your offspring be.' He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead, since he was about 100 years old, or when he considered the barreness of Sarah's womb." Now, there's the not denying reality. Look reality in the face. This is an old man. This is a woman way beyond childbearing years. He's not playing theological monkey games with himself. No belief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Now, that tells you something about Abraham. I mean, isn't it true for us that when we're in trouble, the longer we have to wait, the weaker our faith gets? Because we're not meditating on the beauty of the Lord. What we're doing is meditating on the details of the trouble. But Abraham didn't do that when it says, "He grew in faith because he was fully convinced that the one who made the promise was faithful." It's telling you what Abraham meditated on. And the more he meditated on God, the more he was encouraged that God could do whatever needed to be done. He grew strong in faith. "One thing I desire of the Lord, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord and gaze upon the stunning beauty of the Lord." What's your one thing? Tonight, what's your one thing? Do you run to the temple and remember, or do you once again tell yourself how bad life is? Compare your story to the story of the person next to you? Rehearse how impossible it is, how overwhelmed you are? Let yourself wonder about God? Or do you run and sit and gaze? I want to give you four things to do. These are very practical. When trouble comes in to your door, and it will, here's the first thing, gaze not on your trouble, but on the beauty of your Lord. Require yourself to gaze. And let your heart be filled with a sense of the expansive grandeur of His beauty. Second, remember. Remember what? That that beauty by grace is for you, that He unleashes that beauty for you. My light, my salvation, my stronghold. You see, as you gaze, you begin to see life with accuracy. As you remember, you begin to get ahold of your identity again. I am connected by grace to this beauty. This is who I am. If this is who He is ... Are you listening to me? If this is who He is, this is who I am. Celebrate. Gaze, remember. Third, rest. Rest. You have reason for rest. Rest is never found in your understanding because there will always be mystery in your life. Rest is not found in your ability because you will always be in moments of inability. Rest is found in the one who rules it all and understands it all and has no inability whatsoever in His existence. Rest is found in a person. Don't run to your brain. It won't help. Gaze, remember, rest. Now watch. Now act. Now you're ready to act. Because you're living now in the glory of who God is. You're living in the reality of who by grace you are. You've got a heart at rest. Now you can make wise, good decisions. You can act. Peace in times of trouble begins with sound theology, but it's rooted in the worship of God. You want peace in times of trouble, stop trying to figure out your trouble. Want peace in times of trouble, stop
Transcript: Session 4
WOMEN HELPING WOMEN
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